U.S. Federal Government to Double its Hybrid Fleet; DOE Takes the Lead

President Obama announced on March 31 that the federal government will update the federal fleet with fuel efficient hybrids and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. To do so, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) will replace 5,603 of its least-fuel-efficient cars and trucks with fuel-efficient hybrids, doubling the number of hybrids in the federal fleet without increasing the total number of vehicles. GSA has also committed to purchasing approximately 100 plug-in hybrid vehicles in 2011, which will result in improved fuel efficiency as well as reductions in carbon dioxide emissions and other forms of air pollution.

DOE will lead this initiative by replacing 753 vehicles with hybrids this year. This will bring the total number of DOE hybrid vehicles to 888, even as the agency trims the overall size of its vehicle fleet. These steps are part of a broad effort to implement the Executive Order signed by the President in October 2009, which calls for federal agencies to cut the government's fleet petroleum use by 30% by 2020. See the DOE press release and the article on the Executive Order from the October 7, 2009, edition of the EERE Network News.